Melissa Evans has a message for all parents out there who may be dealing with an injured child — don’t brush it off!
Her six-year-old son is currently battling a flesh-eating bacteria after he injured his leg.
via People:
Melissa Evans, from Pike County in Mississippi, said her son Chance Wade mentioned pain in his leg, but they waited three days before taking him to the doctor.
“My son had initially hurt himself, and he was complaining about his leg,” Evans told WJTV. “We took him to the doctor and he tested positive for strep throat, but he was still limping, but they didn’t see any broken bones.”
After a closer look, the doctors determined that Wade had a flesh-eating bacteria, or necrotizing faciitis, spreading through his leg.
“The infection had aggressively gone through his whole thigh to his knee,” Evans said, crying.
Wade spent Thanksgiving at Batson Children’s Hospital in Mississippi, and underwent his third surgery at the beginning of December.
“We just got an update that it did spread to his other leg,” Evans said.
Before her son’s diagnosis, Evans hadn’t heard of necrotizing faciitis. Though it’s extremely rare, affecting fewer than 20,000 people in the U.S. each year, the bacteria can come from several different sources, and Evans is urging other parents to stay vigilant.
“It could come from many things. Staph, just a small cut, an open wound. During this time with all this weather changing and sick babies and everything that’s just going around; just never take anything lightly,” she said.
Evans hopes that Wade can come home from the hospital in time for Christmas, but with his continued treatment she doesn’t know if that will be possible. She and her family are raising money for the extensive hospital bills through GoFundMe.
“Just continue to pray for me and my baby,” she said. “He’s going to keep fighting and he’s going to be all right.”
How scary. We’re keeping Melissa, her son, and her family in our prayers!
